1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner having an inside/outside air switching portion that can be readily used in common for both a vehicle having a right steering wheel and a vehicle having a left steering wheel.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, in an arrangement of an air conditioner in a vehicle, a blower unit having an inside/outside air switching portion is generally disposed at a front-passenger's seat side within an instrument panel, and an air-conditioning unit for adjusting temperature of air blown by the blower unit is generally disposed an approximate center within the instrument panel in a vehicle width direction. Accordingly, in the air conditioner, the inside/outside air switching portion, that can be used in common for a vehicle having a right steering wheel and a vehicle having a left steering wheel, is required.
On the other hand, in a conventional air conditioner described in JP-A-9-188124, a rotary door having a circular-arc peripheral wall and a side plate is used as an inside/outside air switching door of an inside/outside air switching portion, in order to reduce operation force of the inside/outside air switching door and to increase an air opening area of the inside/outside air switching portion. However, in the air conditioner, a blower unit having the inside/outside air switching portion is arranged at a side of an air-conditioning unit having a heat exchanger and an air-outlet mode switching portion. Therefore, a mounting space for mounting the air conditioner on the vehicle becomes larger. In addition, because the rotary door is formed into approximately one-side opened rectangle shape with angle parts in an axial direction, the angle parts of the rotary door readily interferes with an equipment adjacent to the rotary door.